Have you ever been faced by a situation where you've received some text in a strange language but you can't identify what it is?

Polyglot 3000 (despite sounding like some kind of wall filler!) is a language recognition package which recognizes more than 400 languages. Simply paste in the text that you need identifying and P3000 will immediately throw up suggestions as to what it could be. The program is lightning fast at detecting the language of the text and it also gives you an estimate of how accurate the results are (which is usually 100% although if the language shares similar words with another language, it may be slightly lower). As far as customisation goes, it's very limited though with the only real option being that of setting it to check for only popular languages. However, with so many languages in use over the internet, this program is an excellent starting point for anyone trying to identify the origin of a blog language or website that they don't understand.

If you're just looking for a one stop, simple way to identify the language of some mysterious text, Polyglot 3000 will do it in a flash but note that it doesn't perform any kind of translation.

Download Polyglot 3000 3.22 in Softonic

Nowadays, most people use PowerPoint to create presentations and graphs for statistical data.

However, sometimes PowerPoint is not enough to give you the full control over statistical data that you need, especially if you need to create complex charts. In addition, it's expensive, as it comes as part of Office but this package is totally free.

The main purpose of TeeChart-Office is to allow you to easily create both basic and complex charts while linking them to the original data. In a few clicks, you can modify and change the chart appearance (for instance from pie chart to bar chart), export charts to their native format, insert image files, print them, share them with others and lots more.

The program offers 17 main chart types with a huge number of customisations options. You can just about anything from labeling your charts to inserting complex mathematical formulas. Some of the more advanced plotting features are only available if you upgrade to the Pro version although you won't need these unless you are designing scientific graphs. You can also easily export graphs and images to another format using a simple wizard.

The look of TeeChart-Office is not exactly great - it looks rather blocky and basic compared to PowerPoint but it's incredibly powerful, customizable and best of all, free.

Download TeeChart Office 3.00 in Softonic

Though English speakers don't usually have language problems to browse the web, there are still occasions where you need to translate certain foreign words.

In that case you can use a traditional dictionary o take a faster detour by launching GoNaomi. This app works as a dictionary for 39 different languages and enables you to combine them all in search of the perfect translation. Each language contains about 1,000 entries.

GoNaomi includes popular languages as well as other ones which are not so common, like Tagalog, Ukrainian or Belorussian. You only have to select your source and target languages and enter the terms you're looking for.

On the downside, the program is not embedded into the browser in any way (which would have been easier to translate online texts) and requires a restart every time you change the language selection.

GoNaomi is a fairly complete dictionary with support for quite a high number of languages, but which unfortunately fails to integrate with the browser.

Download GoNaomi 1.66 Free in Softonic

My memory has always been like a sieve and it seems to be getting worse so I was more than intrigued to try out Teach2000.

Teach2000 is like a personal tutor that helps you memorize a foreign language, topography or even important historical facts and dates. It's aimed at students mainly who want to get ahead in their exams or classwork. The program has a quick start wizard that takes you through everything from scratch. It sets you a number of texts based on what you want to remember such as symbols, text or statistics. The program tests your memory by asking you to repeat whatever you've read several times until the number or words are drilled into your head. One good thing is that the program is not limited by language - it can handle phrases and texts in twelve different languages. It's also a very good way to improve your grammar (at least in English anyway) as it tests your ability to remember grammatical rules with a multiple choice test. The program is completely free and very fast at administration tests and changing from one to another. In case you want to use the tests outside of your PC, you can also print out tests and flashcards which could be useful in a classroom environment too.

A fast and innovative way to try and improve your memory although I bet I still forget my keys at least once this week even after using this.

Download Teach2000 8.25 in Softonic

If you're one of those mad scientists who don't have enough with the Windows calculator, then SpeedCrunch is for you.

This powerful advanced calculator lets you perform many mathematical tasks with an up to 50 decimal precision which I personally find impressive. Also, instead of a tiny rectangular screen like the one you find in real calculators, SpeedCrunch features a huge, blank space where all your operations are conveniently saved, so that you can review your calculations at any time.

SpeedCrunch supports on-the-fly calculations, includes more than 50 built-in math functions and can be easily customized. You can use it with its virtual keyboard or your own physical PC keyboard, though math functions can only be entered from the virtual one. It would have been a great idea to create shortcuts for those functions.

With SpeedCrunch you can easily perform many different maths calculations and functions with a high precision and the possibility to review results at any time.

Download SpeedCrunch 0.10.1 in Softonic

Let’s say you’re a bit of a catastrophic person, worried about potential Earth events like volcanoes and earthquakes, maybe near where you live. Earth Alerts is just the program you need to have the situation under control and make you feel safer. At this stage, it only provides data for American cities, but maybe in the future the rest of the world will be reassured about fires, severe weather conditions and, as we mentioned, seismic activity.

To start monitoring a city, just click the New Location option you find in the Settings menu. Normally, if you write the name of city the program should find it in its database and automatically fill in all the information, like Time Zone or Weather Zone, which otherwise could be tricky to insert manually. Add as many cities as you like to receive regular updates during the day.

On the left side of Earth Alerts’s window, you have the list of your chosen cities, with the corresponding volcano, fire and earthquake alerts and also severe weather indications. There is also a global overview with ongoing Earth activity, with a special Tsunami and Tropical section in addition to those mentioned above.

Earth Alerts provides regular updates on Earth geological and meteorological activities, both globally and for specified American cities. Information is presented in a clear way, although you shouldn’t expect to receive lots of it every day… hopefully.

Download Earth Alerts 2008 1.74 in Softonic

Unit Converter is a freeware tool that can take care of all your unit conversions, even when offline. It has an easy-to-use interface and contains most of the units commonly encountered while solving engineering problems. With more than 400 units, you are likely to find the units you are looking for. The application's other features include the ability to add user-defined conversions. Everything is built into a single EXE file, so no uninstaller is necessary. Its small file size makes it easy to distribute to friends and coworkers.

Download Quad-Lock Unit Converter 5.3 in Softonic

Wouldn't it be useful to have a visual map of your thoughts, stating clearly what can support your view or what could instead be raised against it. Argumentative will let you built clear charts with thesis and counter thesis so that you can prepare your speech or develop ideas in a more effective way.

The application makes use of colours to clarify the diagram. Reasons are written in a green panel, objections in red one while the elements in support of both are displayed in a blue box. At any time you can add reasons, helpers or objections to make your graph as comprehensive as possible. Finally, you can export it into Word, Power Point or transform it into other formats using an XSLT style sheet of your choice.

Argumentative's concept is interesting and useful, but the way to design your thought diagram is not that usable. I wouldn't say it is difficult, but surely nowadays we have reached some standard for icons in order to move, add or remove things. I don't find it particularly quick, as one has to go into the edit menu, and then select the adding option just to insert a new panel. It's not really difficult but it would have made things much easier if there were an icon for these functions on the main bar.

Despite a raw design which slows the creation process, this free program can help you organize your ideas, thoughts and presentations thanks to its clear way of displaying arguments and objections.

Download Argumentative 0.5.43 in Softonic

If you're scientific or mathematical work involves highly complex linear and non linear problem solving, then you may find that Octave provides the power you've been looking for.

Octave is a high-level language developed by the open source community which functions simply by providing a command line interface for solving linear and nonlinear numeric problems. For those that are familiar with Matlab, they will have few problems picking up Octave because it works in conjunction with the former language.

The program basically features several very powerful tools for solving the kind of linear algebra equations that would send shivers down the spine of even the most experienced mathematician. According to the developers, it also includes functions for manipulating polynomials and integrating differential and differential-algebraic equations if you know what those are in the first place! The one bonus for those familiar with other languages is that Octave can also be extended or used in conjunction with modules written in C++, C, Fortran and others.

This is an extremely complex language that only those familiar with Matlab or Fortran will pick up quickly. Anyone else should be prepared to put a lot of hours in although the problem solving skills it will provide you with seem virtually limitless.

Download Octave 3.0.1 in Softonic

CCCalc is a very simple calculator that outstands for its original interface, more similar to a school notebook than to a standard PC calculator.

You can customize the background, the text font type and other customization options. As for the mathematical capabilities of the program in itself, we must admit they're pretty simple – they're limited to the basic arithmetic calculations such as adding or subtracting.

In a way we could say that CCCalc is more focused on creating a more user-friendly interface to the standard calculator than on providing more functionalities in order to make it a more complete tool.

If you're looking for a nicely designed calculator, CCCalc is for you; if what you need is a powerful scientific tool, you should look somewhere else.

Download CCCalc 1.5.44 in Softonic

Guitar Chords could save many guitar players time as it is a comprehensive database of the chords on your guitar and all their possible combinations.

Leaving aside the salmon-pink background, which is a little difficult to cope with, the way it works is that after pressing the Start button, you have to choose which type of chord you are looking for: Major & Minor, Augmented, Diminished Suspended, of 6th, of 7th and so on. At this point just click on the name of the note you want and view all the available combinations for creating that chord on the central window.

View the ‘How to read the chords’ sections if you have any problems understanding what ‘X 0 2 2 2 0’ means. This represents which cords you have to play, and where you have to put your fingers. That said, I’ve found it strange that the most common way to play chords is not the first solution available, but instead appears in the middle of a nearly endless list. I don’t really understand the logic behind this, although I hope there is one. If you want, you can also export the list of combinations as a text document by clicking on the Printable Format button.

Guitar Chords is a useful database of all the possible chords you can create with your guitar. It also features all the possible combination of notes you can use to create that chord, although, as the list is very long, it can be confusing to find the most common way to play a specific sound.

Download Guitar Chords 2.1 in Softonic

WorldWide Telescope could be regarded as Microsoft's direct competitor to Google Sky, but I wouldn't agree with that.

WWT does contain space imagery that enables you to observe starts, planets, constellations and other celestial elements without having to buy an expensive telescope, that's true. In that sense, it's similar to Google's space browsing tool. But in my opinion, this app is much more intended for professional astronomers – or at least serious astronomy fans – rather than for people who just want to take a sneak peek at our planet as if they were taking a ride on a NASA shuttle.

Don't get me wrong here: there's nothing wrong with being a serious astronomy app. I'm just warning you in case you expect something else. Other than that, WorldWide Telescope is a great tool that all astronomy fans are going to love. It includes loads of information and also lets you download guided tours from the program itself to learn more about a certain topic.

You can freely move around the sky with your mouse, but I found this a bit confusing and soon preferred to use the image galleries under the Explore menu. These galleries were a bit disappointing though, because you can perfectly see the boundaries of the image you're viewing and so it doesn't feel like a real telescope anymore.

Worldwide Telescope is not a space browser like Google Sky; rather than that, it's a comprehensive astronomy atlas with loads of data, photo galleries and freely downloadable guided tours.

Download WorldWide Telescope Beta in Softonic

Fractals have always been fascinating for their characteristic of never ending and rebuilding themselves each time you zoom in on them. It’s a never ending journey and a never ending world. With Fraqtive you can play with fractals, creating and editing their parameters, changing tones and shades.

If you are a mathematician you will probably understand what all the parameters stand for and what you can obtain by changing the X and Y values, the zoom factor and the rotation angle. If you are just curious like me, change the settings and see what happens. I managed to create a perfect pink rectangle which doesn’t really look like a fascinating fractal!

There is also a 3D rendering feature which is very nice, you can rotate it with the mouse and zoom in and out. Unfortunately, unlike the 2D rendering where you can zoom in infinitely times, in the 3D mode, you only have a section of your fractal to play with, but it doesn’t recalculate itself if you try to enlarge the image.

Fraqtive allows you to create your personalized fractals. The full screen mode lets you immerse fully in this psychedelic world and take screenshots for your mathematical studies or, more commonly, for beautiful wallpapers.

Download Fraqtive 4.3.4 in Softonic

TCExam is an assessment software system that enables educators and trainers to author, schedule, deliver, and report on surveys, quizzes, tests and exams. The software is used all over the world by universities, schools, companies and independent teachers. TCExam is open source and completely free to use.

TCExam screenshotAn e-exam (or CBT - Computer Based Testing)is an electronic exam that can be executed by using a personal computer or an equivalent electronic device (e.g. handheld computer).

The use of e-exam systems, instead of traditional paper-based tests, allows you to simplify the entire exam cycle, including generation, execution, evaluation, presentation and archiving. This simplification allows you to save time and money while improving exams reliability.

Download TCExam 5.3.005 in Softonic

If you're a big fan of the Solar System and staring into Space through your telescope, then you'll absolutely love OpenUniverse.

Open Universe is an exciting project that brings the Solar System to you - in realtime. Most similar programs simulate or recreate the solar system from static models but this program attempts to show you exactly what is going on at any one time. The program existing in a former state as Solar System Simulator (Ssystem) launched in 1997 and has expanded and advanced so much, that it's now come to encompass the entire universe. The word "Open" has been added to to encourage open source users to improve and enhance the project. This is a million times better than the Space Exploration option on Google Earth with highly detailed images of Earth and the planets. For example, you view the Earth from the Sun, zoom in and out and even zoom in on stars. It labels everything too so no more looking up in the sky and wondering what that constellation is. The graphics are not exactly brilliant - it's a bit block and some of the stars look like blobs of white ink. However as a learning tool, it's a brilliant little resource.

For space exploration fans and those that are trying to teach other about the Universe, OpenUniverse is an exciting and powerful project.

Download OpenUniverse 1.0 in Softonic

TuxGuitar is a full featured music composition tool that can be really helpful to musicians, whether they use their computer to compose music or not.

The program looks really complex at first sight – at least for a music newbie like me – so I have the feeling it may overwhelm more novice users. But the amount of available tools, along with an extensive help section and documentation really encourages you to give it a go.

TuxGuitar features a nicely designed interface with clear, simple lines that turns your music composition tasks into a lighter work. Besides composing right on the tablature, you can also have a virtual guitar fretboard or piano keyboard to make composition even easier. What's more, the program lets you play the songs you just composed, using one of the many instruments included in it.

In spite of a confusing first impression, TuxGuitar well deserves a chance from all music composers: it's nicely designed and features many interesting tools.

Download TuxGuitar 1.0 RC3 in Softonic

ESET SysInspector is a through malware scanner which allows you to see what kind of bugs and rootkits may be causing problems on your PC.

It searches for just about anything you can think of that might damage your PC and checks with the ESET database for any irregularities. SysInspector starts by performing an analysis of your computer including the most important components - Windows registry, network connections and drivers. Each time the program is run, it determines the state of your configuration to ascertain whether anything has changed or not. This can take a while depending on how many programs you have installed and how big your hard drive is.

The program presents the results in a GUI and particular attention needs to be paid to the "hazards" field. Not all of these things are malicious usually but the good thing is you have a certain amount of control over what you delete. The best thing however is that it's great if your seeking help on forums because it generates reports and allows you print logs of exactly what going on inside your system and what's on there. This enables experts, either in your local PC clinic or on a forum, exactly what might be causing the problem.

Although EST SysInspector doesn't provide real time protection, it will certainly get you a lot closer to finding a solution.

Download ESET SysInspector 1.1.1.0 in Softonic

Rapid Typing is a fast and useful application that allows you to improve your typing skills, both in accuracy and speed. The interface is fairly clear, although maybe you will have to disable the aquarium animation set as default in the background as it can disturb you when concentrating on your exercises. You can do that, in the option menu, ticking the animation option and if you wish, choosing a background colour, although the white one, is probably the clearer.

When you start the session, simply type the letters you see on the screen, without looking at your keyboard. Exercises are increasingly difficult and test you on specific letters each time, until you are able to remember better what’s where.

If you don’t know which is the correct finger to use to press a letter, press the Show/Hide Virtual Keyboard button, on the far bottom of the main frame. You’ll get a representation of your hands, telling you with which finger you should use to press the key.
At the end of each session the program tells you how many mistakes you made and how fast you have been, showing you a graph of your improvements.

With Rapid Typing you can improve your typing speed and accuracy when using your keyboard with increasingly more difficult exercises. Although it’s very easy to use, it lacks of an initial explanation on how to position and move your fingers, so two-finger typers might have to look for an alternative training method.

Download RapidTyping 1.9.9.6 in Softonic

If you regularly have to translate from one language to another, then it's a pain to keep going online to find a translator which can handle the languages you need.

The big advantage of Translate.net is that it scans multiple translation sites for languages that you need to translate to and from. The good thing here is that you don't have to go online and tediously surf the net for translators and by using translators from different sources, you can much more accurate and better translations. The annoying thing however is that the program displays advertisements within the program based on the translation texts that you are searching on. However, the developers assure that Translate.Net does not collect any personal data or use any aggressive advertising techniques on it's users. One thing worth mentioning however is that this program is completely open source which means that the advertising feature may be possible to remove, or at least block, if you have some C++ programming knowledge.

A great solution for those that translate regularly although be prepared to be bombarded with adverts.

Download Translate.Net 0.1.3036 in Softonic

CatsCradle is an aid for language translators that provides an easy way to translate web pages. While it does not do any translation, it extracts the text out of evey page and presents it in an easy to editable overview that allows you to translate the text portions without having to deal with any HTML code or other distractions.

The built-in editing screen allows for side-by-side editing, as well as optional real-time browser preview of the translated page. Additional features include a built in glossary that can suggest appropriate words and phrases while you are translating, project file catalog with word count and more. CatsCradle can also handle .hhc and .hhk files for translating of .chm help files. And of course, you can also use the tool to edit text on any web page without translating edit, so it can a also handy tool for webmasters that need some quick no-code text editing.

Download CatsCradle 3.7 in Softonic